Creating the enigma
by alicenne15
Summary: It's been minutes since Harry's supposed death, Hermione Granger is now supposed to save the world. She has to go back to 1926 and change Tom Marvolo Riddle, teach him to love in the hope that the darkness won't swallow him. She arrives 12072 days late, she was now born on the 19th of January, 1960.
1. Prologue:12072&1096

**Prologue: 12072 &1096**

She had the urge to run. It was the strongest feeling that overtook her since she found out about her parent's death. Her mother and father, the ones who gave her everything they could were buried underground. The Death Eaters found them before they moved out to Australia, they decided to torture them to get the location of Harry Potter. Or that was the excuse, their twisted, sadistic minds probably found it as fun. She suspected that they knew that the messages wouldn't get to her, not while she was in hiding. And even so she wouldn't betray her friend. She would rather have them take her instead, covered by a layer of Polyjuice Potion or a heavy Glamour Charm, all to protect Harry. Her mind had made lots of scenarios where she found a way to prevent it. But still, they were dead and her precautions to keep them safe had failed. Harry would be too, he left, his last words told her that he was a Horcrux. She knew what it meant, Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, her best friend, her last family would die.

She turned numb within a few seconds after he left and now, when Voldemort came to Hogwarts with a dead Harry in the arms of Hagrid she couldn't control it any longer and let go of all the control she had, she let her feet drag her to an unknown place. She heard Ron's voice protest but she couldn't stop. Hermione knew that they had to destroy the snake and kill Voldemort but blast it! She let herself start and couldn't stop now. The tears blurred her eyes as she made her way around the castle.

When she finally came to a stop, the same urge overtook her, asking her to dive into her beaded bag. There were no whispers around her head, nor anything controlling her, it was just a feeling-an instinct. She decided to follow it and unconsciously reached out for the book Dumbledore left her with. The same feeling told her to read it. She couldn't read now, let alone concentrate on anything as her mind was a collection of jelly and memories, but again, she couldn't stop her fingers from opening the book. What came as a little surprise is that her hands dragged her to the last empty pages, which were now marked in someone's handwriting.

 _Miss Granger,_

 _This letter must not appear unless, to my greatest displeasure, all the ways to end Tom Riddle's reign of terror have perished._

 _Hermione, you are the brightest witch of your age, the title gives you little justice as you are more than brilliant, however, it doesn't lie about your knowledge. I am sure that you have heard the tale of Harry's survival on the night of Halloween, 1981. Need I remind you that Love conquers all? In the end, Voldemort, who has never known Love was destroyed by it._

 _I trust you have found out by now, that a piece of Voldemort is living inside Harry Potter, making him a horcrux. I apologize for hiding the truth, however, I wanted the boy to have enjoyed life as long as possible before his inevitable end. You may not believe me and think of me as a selfish, old fool, I confess to your right to do so but I have to ask of one more act of selfishness from you. The terrible act that I ask of you is to be stabbed by Time itself._

 _I ask you to help Tom Riddle understand love. He hated everyone since the beginning, his father had abandoned him and his mother-after his father's abandonment-had lost the will to live and died shortly after giving birth to him. I had wondered many times before, what would happen if he had been given a chance to love? I believe that if he were to have a family things may have played out differently._

 _On one of my trips to find a stop to the ways of Gellert Grindelwald I have come across many things. However, none of them have scared me as much as one potion and spell. I have read the warnings written in runes and decided upon using it to save my sister and stop Gellert. My courage was quickly proved useless when the potion deemed me unworthy. It saw me as selfish for trying save myself from the guilt. It did not open and the spell became unreadable too. I have checked, before my death and it confirmed that you have the right to use it while it still thought of me as selfish._

 _If you decide to go along this dangerous path and take it, you would become his relative, born on the same day, December 31st, in 1926. After being born in 1926 you will live a normal life without the memories of your life here, in the 1990's. Your memories will only resurface by the time you will reach the age of 11, that is when you need to start mending Tom Riddle's notions. You need to find a way to make him feel loved before it is too late. If you convince your parents to give a home to him, to give him a chance of a loving family, the darkness might let go of him._

 _After you arival there, to 1926, weather you completed the mission or not, you will have no chances of returning back, therefore it is such a selfish thing of me to ask. Hermione Granger will never be born in 1979, as will your parents never exist. Please, Miss Granger, I beg you to forgive a dying fool like me, forgive me for choosing to die a coward, knowing I had a chance to change it all. I may excuse myself by reminding you that I had to face Gellert, and how I should defeat him but we both know that I'd be covering up my fears. Forgive me for making you go through this path. Forgive me for my selfish nature through which I choose you to be stabbed by Time and be teared into a million pieces._

 _However, if you choose to go through with this, if you are ready to sacrifice yourself the small bottle with the potion is kept in my pensive. You can't feel it, nor you would be able to see it but by using the enchanted words you will have the ability to retrieve it. After drinking the potion, you will have to chant a spell written around the glass vile to start everything, in doing so I ask you to focus on the year 1926. If you happen to be needing my trust when you come there please give me Ariana's wand, which you will find in a red box, in the Room of Requirement, in 1938. The words 'I need a place to keep Ariana's wand safe' will activate the correct room. This way I can be sure that I was the one who sent you. I have to ask you not to inform me on anything particular about the future or Grindelwald's defeat. You cannot show me this message either, as it contains information that might help Gellert Grindelwald's rule, so upon your arrival I want you to destroy it. Please do not reveal any information to anyone who might put it at risk. I am dearly sorry that it had to happen this way but it's the only way and you're the only one who I could ask to do this._

 _Good luck, Miss Granger._

 _Albus Dumbledore._

She was released instantly from the instincts that took over her body as the words sunk into her. She was in the Headmaster's office, the pensive which Harry dived through was still soaked with Snape's memories. Looking around she couldn't stop from collapsing on the floor and crying out. Harry was dead. Harry was dead. Harry was dead. Voldemort won. Another series of sobbs escaped her lips. Before leaving for the Horcrux hunt she promised herself to take care of Harry and Ron. This situation was out of her control but Harry had died and she didn't even do anything to stop it. She could have stopped him. She could have saved Harry.

Voldemort would kill all the muggle-borns and blood traitors before enslaving the muggles. She was angry with Dumbledore for keeping it all to himself, she felt the rage bubbling inside her. To know that a man she once looked up to had asked her to do this was making her terrified. But. Harry was dead, her parents were dead and soon everyone she loved would die. She had to do this. She had to stop this from happening. Any small chance, anything, any step she had to take to stop this she would now do. She had to because it was all her fault and she had to do this for the memory of her parents and Harry and everyone the war cost her.

A part of her was trying to tell her that it wasn't her fault and that she couldn't do this to herself but it was completely drowned in guilt and self loathing. Why was she so helpless? -Ron. Her heart melted at the image of him. She loved him and she wouldn't do this to him. She loved him. But then again, he would be killed soon, if not what kind of future is the one where you are constantly on the run from Death Eaters and Snatchers? She would do this for him too. She loved him. She would sacrifice it all for the little time they had. Hermione made up her mind. She would do this.

Her mind instantly remembered the revealing spell she used on Tom Riddle's diary in her second year as her legs made their way to the pensive. She flicked out her wand.

"Aparecium."

Nothing happened. She thought back to the letter and read the words again. She remembered that her Headmaster had the ability to be very straight forward. She cringed at the thought before reading out loud.

"using the enchanted words you-"

The pensive shined with a yellow light she knew weren't the memories. Her hand carefully, not to get lost in the memories took out the little vile. A liquid in the colour of forest green with tiny yellow sparks was inside and a small parchment was wrapped around the lid. It simply read: 'Reducam damnatis tunc revoca'. With shaky fingers she opened the lid and stared at it. She couldn't do it. She couldn't drink it. She closed the lid.

Hermione's legs failed her again as she fell and stumbled onto the table that held the pensive. She sat up against it and cried. Why was she so helpless? She remembered every time that her parents were angry with her, she remembered every moment of her pain and embracement. She remembered the faces and the words mixed with the emotions. She remembered losing everyone she loved. Every time she felt the pain, she would willingly go through it again if that meant that she could be somewhere else now. Why her? Why did it have to be her who sacrificed everything? She couldn't do it, she cried. All the pain from this life meant that she had existed. It meant that no matter in how much pain she was, she was alive, she was a survivor and she existed. She didn't want to be erased from existence along with her parents.

Her parents were dead, Harry was dead, Ron would die too. Bellatrix would finish of her job and torture her before a bloody death or she would be ripped apart by Time and maybe save everyone, but she would lose herself. Somehow option one seemed brighter in Hermione's mind. But then she remembered Harry and his nobility and how much her parents loved her. They would have gave up their lives in orde for her to survive, she would have done the same for them. They were dead but she knew that they would let her erase them if it meant that their daughter was in a safer place. _'Love conquers all'_ was whispered in her mind. Maybe, even if she erased them, a part of her would keep them with her forever. She loved them so much, so maybe even without existing they would still be a part of her life. Without having another moment to think over the liquid was drained from it's vile.

She took out her wand and taking a breath muttered the words that would destroy Hermione Granger. "Reducam damnatis tunc revoca" having it said she started focusing on 1926.

She barely noticed someone climbing up the stairs in a hurry nor did she hear when they entered the room.

"Hermione!" The words echoed around the room before she opened her eyes. Her brown orbs met the eyes that reminded her the leaves of oak trees. It was Harry. He rushed towards her in a hurry to embrace her, to make sure that his friend, his sister was safe.

She didn't believe it. Harry was dead. She hurriedly took steps back in panic.

"Hermione, it's me. Harry Potter." His eyes were breaking down in tears.

In a rapid movement she pushed away the intruder who took her by the hand. He didn't let go and she struggled against him as he tried to convince her that he was Harry. With one hard shove she managed to get away from him, again, she didn't notice the pensive behind her and fell into it before she could react. White smoke blurred everything before showing a small redhead with her best friend's eyes.

"Hermione, I promise it's me. I'm alive. I didn't die." a voice spoke up from her left.

Hermione looked at him. She could see something behind his eyes, hear something behind his voice and feel something behind his actions. She believed him now. This was Harry. He was alive. _How?_ Never mind, he hugged him back. She didn't trust her voice to answer something back. She didn't let go of him as they watched Snape's memories fade into new ones and she couldn't help it when her heart broke for her Potions professor. When they finally entered the world that was real she hugged-really hugged Harry.

"Why, how?" She asked while her mind was failing, miserably at processing that Harry was alive and thinking about Severus Snape. A pain like the Cruciatus Curse wrapped her body. "Hermione you're- Hermione!" Harry caught her in his arms.

There was a deafening scream.

Hermione Granger was evaporated from reality and stabbed multiple times by Time before, the feeling of tearing apart echoed through her body. She felt being quartered and chopped before tiny needles were sewing energetically at her skin, stitching her back together. With a gasp she opened her eyes as the pain suddenly stopped. She couldn't move. The air felt like acid. Her last memory was a terrible scream. The world had blacked out into a strange dream. Upon turning 14 years old she awoke, remembered everything that came from her previous life and the realization of her mistakes. No one noticed her silent sobs in the dormitory for four and there was no one to acknowledged that something had gone terribly wrong.

On the 2nd of May, before disappearing Hermione Granger last thought was of Severus Snape's life. She was born 12072 days late, on Tuesday, the 19th of January 1960. She woke up in the wrong time and regained her memories 1096 days late. Today was Saturday, January 19th, 1974.

…

 **Author's Note: This is my first time trying a time travel fic so I hope you like it. Thank you for reading and feel free to tell me about your thoughts or suggestions for where I could take the story next.**

 **-Alli**


	2. Chapter 1:Waking up

**Chapter 1: Waking up**

"Lucianna, Lucianna wake up!"

"Mmmhmm."

"Lucianna we'll be late for breakfast. And you promised you'd introduce me to Ammos."

She felt someone shaking her and stirred slightly stretching out her arms above her head, slowly her eyes opened. She saw herself surrounded by a dimly lit room. _This is wrong!_ Something howled within her. Her head shot to take in her view in a heartbeat. To her right were large windows illuminated by green, different creatures floating by it. Very soon and to her absolute horror, she realized that she was looking into the Black Lake.

"Lucianna, happy birthday! You're fourteen!"

Her head shot towards the source of the sound and her heart stopped for a few seconds. There with a green package in her hands stood the younger version of Mafalda Hopkirk. Memories of impersonating her stirred through her head, instantly giving her a headache, she groaned as her hands shot to her head.

"Lucianna are you alright?"

"Who is-" She was cut short as another pain shot through her mind and her memories began to stir.

 _She was sick with the cold. Sneezing, coughing and having to clean her nose every five minutes were the side effects. But, nothing couldn't stop her from her little adventures. She was walking through the corridors quietly, trying not to be noticed. As a child who has lived for eight years she had been expected to attend school since the age of five, however, her parents didn't want their 'perfect little daughter' to be mixed with some common folk's children. So, after a week of her fifth birthday a governor was hired to homeschool her._

 _It was often boring in the house as her two older brothers weren't interested in her activities and had often neglected her. Whenever they did have time to spare, it was spent reading or having 'extra' fencing lessons which they insisted to take after leaving France. They were older than her by 7 and 9 years but she knew that they loved her in their own way. Even though they could only show it by gifting her presents._

 _Today she had decided to sneak into her father's study. Her brother's weren't home, her governor had given her a weekend (due to her illness) and her father had went away on a business trip. She smiled mischievously. She reached a big wooden door. Pulling out a key from her pocket-that she snuck out previously-she put it into the lock and turned twice. Keeping as silent as possible she entered and closed the door behind._

 _Since it was early spring and her father had given her vague hints about a holiday trip, she suspected that a trip around the country (or out of it) could be announced soon. Excitement bubbled up in her stomach and she smiled before sitting into her father's chair. She loved his office. She knew that she couldn't yet get into his locked drawers-which had held 'adult business stuff' as her brother-Lysander called it-but she still liked to look over her family's medical papers. Smirking she reached for the third drawer from the floor and pulled them out._

 _Her father's was on the top followed by her mother, then Lorenzo and Lysander and then she reached her own. A photograph of her at age six with her bushy hair and slightly bucked teeth smiled at her. She decided to read out loud, it made her feel important._

" _Lucianna Rosalind Hermione Riddle. Born nineteenth January nineteen sixty. Female. Nationality: UK-"_

" _Lucianna?" A cold voice called from behind the door._

 _She barely had enough time to slip the papers back into the drawer and stand up, slight fear on her face. Her mother entered the study._

" _What are you doing here Lucianna?" This was a voice restraining anger._

" _I-I… I miss father."_

 _Her expression softened "I miss him too but you're ill. Go back to your room and do not come here again, not until you are healthy and have your father's permission."_

" _Yes mother." She replied and quickly headed back. Her mother could be a very angry woman and she did not want another scolding session._

She opened her eyes again to meet the hazel ones of Mafalda. She felt disgusted with herself. She shared the same name and, bloody hell, blood with Voldemort! "I need the washroom." She said. "Urgently."

Mafalda helped her stand up and pressed her hand to the forehead of the girl who turned paler by the second. "You're burning, we need to take you to Madam Pomfrey, now."

Unfortunately, she did not have enough time to get to the hospital wing. "I'm gonna be sick." Was the only thing that she said before the grey-blond haired witch quickly took her to the bathroom just in time as she threw up. Mafalda held back her hair while running fingers over her back. "You'll be alright."

After she finished, she had washed her teeth using the toothbrush Mafalda gave to her. She splashed some water into her face before drying it. Before turning to Mafalda she caught herself in the mirror. She gasped a little but was truly relieved.

There were frizzy brown curls above her own eyes. There was her own button nose with small freckles above it and her lips held the same shape as before. Though the hair was a tiny bit more tamed now no changes have been found in her eyes. The mahogany colouring had remained and looking closely enough she could see the small specks of gold lingering in there. She silently laughed out and to her joy she saw her nose sniff in the same way as before. She parted her lips to see (to a slight surprise) that her teeth were perfect. She assumed to have gotten rid of her bucked teeth faster in this life. Tears of joy slipped from her eyes. Robbing her of her name and life, Time had let her keep some reminder of her previous life.

"Lucianna, you should get dressed, we need to go to Madam Pomfrey, besides it's 07:45 and Amos will be in the Great Hall at 08:15. Remember your promise." Mafalda teased.

She snorted upon her name. Lucianna was of course, another name from a Shakespearean play (-The Comedy of Errors to be specific). Although, in some languages, it was also associated with the name Lucius, as it was a feminine version of it. "Mafalda what is my full name?"

The girl looked at her quizzically at her, but nevertheless decided to answer. "Lucianna Rosalind Riddle."

She frowned, why didn't Mafalda know her second middle name? "Why don't you shorten my name or use my other name?"

"You don't like it, just like I don't enjoy being called Alda by you." The hazel eyed girl said in as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Can you please call me Hermione from now on?" She asked.

"Lucianna-" She cringed at hearing it again. "I don't know what kind of sick birthday prank you're playing at or if you're actually unwell, so stop. You're scaring me."

"I'm not playing at anything, could you at least call me Cianna or Rosalind?" She snapped.

Mafalda looked at her with a raised brow but nodded her head anyway. "Alright… Cianna."

Just before she could thank her another wave of memories was splashed over her brain, coming with a painful ache. She closed her eyes.

 _She was laying in bed at the start of her second year and thinking it all through. There were only four Slytherin girls in her year, but that never stopped them from being mean. Mafalda was their pureblood leader, she was a cruel girl and though she couldn't scheme very well, she certainly had an ability to manipulate others. The other two girls were half bloods, one of them was Claire Fenwick, just a year younger than her brother Benjy (who was a Hufflepuff) and the other was Anya Alexandrova (her parents lived in Russia before the Russian Ministry sent her father to work in the UK)._

 _Lucianna knew the cost of survival. She was one of those few muggle-borns that had gotten into the house, though that didn't stop them from hating her. She tried talking or befriending many of them but the only response that she had gotten was a series of hexes thrown at her. Lucianna saw Mafalda as potential protection, she-Mafalda-wasn't blood-prejudiced and the pureblood status gave her some power. Lucianna and Mafalda had an agreement of sorts that the latter did not fully see. Lucianna, as a terribly rich and spoilt child gave Mafalda presents and compliments, in return Mafalda declared Lucianna as her best friend and sometimes gave her presents too. This had caused many of the blood prejudiced and pureblood students to ignore her. They simply saw her as 'the filthy muggle-born who Mafalda clings to'. To most of them she was invisible. Luciana suffered from this terrible relationship, but she knew she didn't stand a chance against her house._

 _She remembered how her parents praised her after finding out that she was a witch. Their 'perfect little daughter' was extraordinary, and this only made their family better. Sure, they couldn't tell people the details of their situation but they did brag about how Lucianna was accepted into an 'exclusive boarding school for the gifted'._

 _Upon, finding out that there were houses in Hogwarts her parents demanded to know which one typically held the most influential people (in the Wizarding World). After their research, her father said that it didn't matter where she got in but Slytherin would be preferable, whilst her mother told her to specifically get in there. And anything her parents told her she did, for she had an aberrant fear of their judgement. She did not want them to see her as a failure, all she wanted was to make them proud._

 _Tears quietly streamed down the face of the 12 year old Lucianna. She didn't want to be in Slytherin, but the irrational anxiety of the thought of her mother finding out she wasn't in Slytherin drove her to beg the Sorting Hat for the house before it gave her it's opinion. Why were her parents doing this to her? Didn't they see how she suffered? Why did she agree? Why was she so scared? Carefully, she took out a picture of her family and hugged it dearly. She loved them, even though they tortured her, she couldn't stand the thought of losing them._

Hermione pressed her hands to her head and noticed her tear stained cheeks. What was she doing? Lucianna was also a part of her. A part driven by the need to satisfy her parents but it was her nonetheless. Hermione remembered herself doing so too (even though it wasn't in such extreme conditions). Lucianna had the same fears and morals as her. Lucianna and her shared the same face. Why was she hating Lucianna? No, she shouldn't do it. Lucianna and Hermione are the same person. She closed her eyes and opened them again as a million thoughts entered her mind. _The mission._ She panicked.

She didn't think of it when she cried at night, for all she knew that Harry was alive and she got the note by mistake. She zoomed out of the bathroom and searched her bed. Where was that blasted book? There was nothing on the bed. Her mind echoed to the memory of her hugging the picture. _The nightstand!_ She opened the drawers. There it was, 'The tales of Beedle the Bard' given to her by Dumbledore in the times of Hermione Granger, the only thing that would travel with her. She took it out.

"Lucianna, I'm starting to worry. We should get you to the Hospital Wing." Came a voice behind her, she didn't pay attention as it was completely on the book.

"Lucianna are you even-" Mafalda froze at the sight of the book. She came closer. "Is that a first edition?"

She turned her head. "Yes."

"Who gave it to you? Where did you get it?" Jealousy was evident in Mafalda's voice.

Hermione-Lucianna didn't have time for this. "I need to go to Dumbledore." She put a black cloak over her pyjamas and quickly slid her feet into the closest shoes and rushed out, leaving a confused friend behind.

"Lucianna come back! I need to get changed!" Were the last words she heard before running into a turn.

Walking out of the Slytherin dormitory has been a problem, there were many corridors made of grey stones and with each turn it seemed that she was getting more lost. She couldn't even get into the common room. Oh, how she wished for a map. After ten minutes of pointless wandering she saw a bunch of first year girls walking to breakfast, silently she followed them into the common room, mentally taking notes on the turns. After asking one of them for the password that she'd 'forgotten' she ran out of the dungeons and up toward the seventh floor where stood the statue of a gargoyle.

Upon running up she saw many of the Gryffindors give her strange glances. She didn't care, as long as she could speak to Dumbledore. One of them did, however, catch her attention. He was a boy in her year with yellow blonde hair and innocent eyes. He also had a complexion of an…

"Evil manipulative rat who throws his friends under a snake-faced bastard." She whispered angrily to herself. All she wanted to do in that moment was to delicately put her hands on his neck and slowly choke him to unconsciousness. After that she'd have to make sure that he snogged a dementor.

She opened the book to distract herself and read the note again. If she didn't arrive in 1926 why was the Riddle family alive? Why wasn't she a Gaunt? What was the Wizarding World's situation? Is Voldemort alive? More important: is Tom Riddle still a crazy subhuman creature who wants to enslave the muggles? She read the letter again hoping it would give her some answers.

 _If you happen to be needing my trust…_

How could she have forgotten? She changed her direction and headed towards the left corridor. She only hoped that Dumbledore didn't take the wand. She paced about the wall for three times. _"I need a place to keep Ariana's wand safe."_

Two giant magnificent wooden doors with metal spirals started materializing from thin air. As soon as they appeared she zoomed into the room but had stopped with shock. The room was empty and small. The walls seemed to be painted with dust and so was the floor there was no light, so her only source was the open door. The place was setting her nerves to go haywire, shivers crawled up her spine. She refused to stay here more time than necessary.

She reached the middle of the room and bent down, there under her feet, lay a petite red box. There were faint shadows of ancient carvings on them. She reached her hand towards it and the universe froze. The silence of the room became deafening and the small puffs of dust froze in mid-air. She held her breath, the world seemed transcendent. She took the box in her hand and stood up. Her mind was in a beautiful trance. She exhaled with a smile that only broke upon realizing that the door had closed. The darkness blinded her eyes.

…

 **Author's Note: So… Umm… I don't really know what to say except for: Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. But anyway, thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it. I would love to hear/read any of your thoughts and suggestions (if you want to share them). Goodbye and until we meet again (in chapter 2 or part 3, whichever you like to call it).**

 **-Alli**


	3. Chapter 2:Finding out

**Chapter 2: Finding out**

Albus Dumbledore was a very busy man. It wasn't always like that but for the last few years his schedule was ever growing. The dangers were growing bigger and bigger. Dumbledore, had many meetings with the minister and Wizengamot, every effort was put to stop the current crisis. No one knew what to do, there the man who defeated Grindelwald had an advantage. Fourteen years back when he woke to see that a potion he guarded with his life had vanished he knew something was coming. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad but he had looked at every detail of small things, trying to find something unusual.

Very soon, the thread of unusual was visible to his eyes. By the end of February, 1960 a family that went by the name of Riddle had arrived to Britain. Upon further inspection he found out that 11 month after the birth of Tom Marvolo Riddle his father (-Tom Riddle Sr) had another child who he sent away to study abroad when the child had turned thirteen. So when Morfin Gaunt killed the Riddle family in 1943, Anthony Riddle (who was fifteen at the time) decided to finish his studies before settling in France. However, by the time his third child was a month old he and his wife decided to move back to Britain. Abandoning the old Riddle house, they bought a new mansion house in Hampshire where they happily continued raising their three children.

Albus Dumbledore took action soon, the cause being a name (Lucianna Rosalind Hermione Riddle) that appeared in the list that would join Hogwarts in 1971. He soon put up strong wards around their house and made sure that someone kept watch of the family. Although Morfin (who was sentenced to a dementor's kiss) had confessed to committing the crime, Albus always suspected that his previous student was also involved. If Tom Marvolo Riddle had found out that his paternal family was still alive and he had a muggle-born niece nothing would stop him from murder. His protection payed off in eleven years later when a letter from Garrick Olivander told him of the wand that chose the witch.

Like her uncle the witch was sorted into Slytherin and was a charming student (,much like her maniac uncle). She was only sixth in her year, tied with Remus Lupin and Lily Evans and was well skilled in magic. Though, what set her apart from her uncle was that she didn't attract the dark but that didn't stop Dumbledore from keeping a close eye on her, for you never know if a person had a sudden twist of heart. Dumbledore knew of what she had asked the Sorting Hat and knew her true house but he never talked to her personally because he wanted to observe of what she'd up grow to be. He hoped she'd end up on the right side.

Today, he knew that something was coming. Fourteen years have passed since the potion disappeared and today the empty vial had shined before cracking into a hundred shards. There was also a strange feeling, like something of his possession had vanished. After a short period of time he noticed one of his books to be missing. So when a spell warned him that someone had touched Ariana's red box he was already armed with a wand and a spell on the tip of his tongue as he quickly made his way into the Room of Requirement.

He was ready for a terrible fight or a complex talk. He expected an unknown person, foe or perhaps an old friend to be there. He was getting ready for this day for fourteen years but no part of him was ready to see the petite figure of Lucianna Riddle standing, supported by a wall, clutching Ariana's wand in her right hand with a 'Lumos' spell on it. As another shock it came to him that her left hand held the book which went missing from his bookshelf this morning. She looked as if she were in pain and it was distracting her enough to not-notice the Headmaster coming into the room.

…

As soon as she realized that the door was closed the euphoria that she experienced seconds ago slipped from her grasp and she froze. She couldn't see the door and didn't remember which direction she faced, her hand automatically slided into her pocket to find nothing. She retracted it upon realizing that her wand was probably somewhere in the Slytherin dormitory so without having another option she opened the dusty red box. The lid felt like old marble, with some cracks in the middle, to what the wand felt extremely smooth. Feeling the wand in her right hand she reckoned that Ariana may have never used the it before. There were no scratches or dents in it and the wand felt like it was an extra, the type of wand one could easily replace. _Then why was it bought?_

"Lumos." She whispered and a blue light shot out of the wand. To her dismay she saw no doors on any of the walls. The room was probably set up as a miniature trap to hold the person until Dumbledore comes. Hermione came closer to one of the walls and right before she had a chance to cast a spell the immense headache returned with a new memory.

 _She felt like it was asthma. Lucianna never did have any problems with breathing and her lessons always went pleasantly, no matter how sweaty she was in the end. When she turned nine she-just like her brothers-wanted to take fencing lessons instead of continuing her ballet. Her mother wasn't happy about it but upon hearing that her father would be proud let her take them for two month. If, the teacher would approve her as a student by the time the two month passed her mother would allow it too._

 _So there she was, sweating and feeling like her lungs didn't have enough space. Only a month and a half of her training was done, so if she'd give up now, she would never be allowed to continue the sport. Proving her mother wrong was one of the things Lucianna liked to do. She didn't have the nerve to do it directly since she'd end up crying in her room after her mother's taunts. She wasn't a masochist either. Her mother never used any physical punishments for her children, however, Lucianna remembered a time when her mother had thrown a glass bottle at the wall in her presence. Lucianna was standing a metre away from the place where it shattered. That day was remembered as a warning in her mind._

 _Whenever her mother said she'd fail to do something. Lucianna tried her best to succeed in the area. Many prizes in mathematics, art and literature were the evidence. Even now, upon feeling that she'd choke she took a few deep breaths and continued the lesson. She had trained in the mask before but it never was more than 15 minutes. She was rapidly losing her strength, the hits and the blocks her sabre did were weakening against her teacher who was following an attack-defence-attack routine._

" _Why did you take the third position if you saw me aiming for your left?"_

 _Luciana could only answer after inhaling three deep breaths. "I… sorry."_

 _There was no power left in her and her instructor seemed to notice it too. "Alright, I expect you to do better than these last five minutes after a small break." Luciana felt a hand on her shoulder. "Go get some water."_

" _Thank you Miss Abbey." She took her mask of and to take a free breath._

Her mind came back to reality as a voice entered her ears. "Miss Riddle could you please explain yourself?" Said a calm voice. Her eyes revealed a man who died a year ago (in Hermione Granger's time) standing before her.

"Professor Dumbledore, I..." She thought about it for a few seconds. "I can't, you told me not to. You said that you'd trust me if I gave you Ariana's wand-" she cast a nonverbal 'Nox' after seeing that her 'Lumos' was still working before stretching out her hand and rotating the wand.

He was slightly impressed with the nonverbal but chose not to say anything. "Miss Riddle, I'd like my book back too." he said before taking the wand.

"I can't give it to you, I'm sorry." she clutched the book a little tighter.

"I see. I assume that you have drank the potion-" seeing her nod slightly he continued "and have come here 14 years ago. But I must admit your awakening is rather late. Could you explain me as much as possible?"

"Sir, I need to ask a question first."

"Ask away dear."

"Does Voldemort-Tom Marvolo Riddle-exist-I mean is he trying to enslave and eliminate all muggles and muggle-borns?"

"Yes."

"Who am I to him?" She looked him in the eyes. "How am I related to Voldemort?"

Dumbledore was slightly shocked, there was no way that Lucianna Riddle would have found out herself. "You're his niece."

She sighed, accepting the truth. That was better than she expected. "Sir, how did the Riddles survive, how am I here?"

"Tom Riddle, eleven month after the birth of Tom Marvolo Riddle had a son-Anthony Riddle-your father. The child was sent to study abroad and he didn't return to England 'till 1960."

That answered most of it, she could already gather the rest but she needed to know the reason for why she wasn't a Gaunt. "What happened to Morfin Gaunt after he attacked the Riddles?"

"He was sentenced to a dementor's kiss."

A part of her paralyzed hearing this but the other part forced her to nod. She deeply bit her lip and closed her eyes. It wasn't 1938 so it would be easier if she were to give him the letter. It didn't contain much information of the future except for Harry being a Horcrux and Dumbledore's death. But she needed for him to find out about the Horcuxes, that would help them win the war-unless the other Riddle changed the timeline. A cold shiver went up to her neck. There was another question.

"Sir when did you defeat Gellert Grindelwald?"

"1945."

She sighed. This seemed satisfactory enough. There were more questions she could ask but she wanted everything to go quicker. She was still emotionally unstable after losing her world and was tempted to give Dumbledore the book. A sudden rush of Severus Snape's memories swirled in her mind-Albus Dumbledore's manipulations being one of them. No, she could not give him the book, for all she knew he might trick her the same way he tricked many others.

"I think, due to the circumstances, this conversation should be held later..." She offered him as a reply.

Dumbledore looked at the girl through his half moon spectacles and saw the concern written over her face. She was deeply troubled about something, and it looked to be paining her. "Yes, I think it'd be better if we had this discussion in my office after you had breakfast." She looked relieved. "Miss Riddle where is your wand?"

"I don't know, Luciana's-um… my memories are partially returning to me with these headaches but I only saw 3. Will it always be happening?" She dodged the question.

"No, I believe only the memories that are significant in some way will come back." Dumbledore cast a cleaning charm over her. "You need to hurry, breakfast will end in 30 minutes."

All the dust collected by her hands and cloak made their way back to the floor and she looked as clean as before. "Thank you professor."

Dumbledore nodded before disappearing through the door. She stood there for a few seconds, processing the things that just happened before moving out of the door and heading down to breakfast.

…

Her sight immediately went up to the Gryffindor table when she stepped into the great hall, on instinct it started searching for a ginger and a black mess, instead it found four heads, one of which had her best friend's hair. She blinked twice before gaping at them, never once in her life did she expect to watch the marauders grow up. Her legs wanted to carry her there, it was fascinating and she would have come there if not for-

"Lucianna there you are!" Somebody yanked her back by taking her forearm. "Amos will leave soon, you promised to introduce me to him." She heard the squeaky voice of Mafalda say.

Hermione had a blank expression to what Mafalda raised a brow. She already suspected that something was wrong with her. Hermione slightly furrowed her brows and decided to cover up the doubt. "Oh, yes. I will, I just-"

"Then do it. Now." squeaked the grey-blond.

Lucianna-Hermione did not like being commanded took a breath to flush down her anger and let herself be dragged somewhere by Mafalda. Soon enough, near the Hufflepuff table she saw who Mafalda was referring to. She froze again. Amos looked like a very real look-alike of Cedric, his hair was a bit longer and darker and his face slightly less handsome but other than this was Cedric. Hermione gulped when she saw the joy in his eyes, she remembered his cries when his son had become no more than a body.

"Riddle, hello." His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hello Amos." She said quietly.

"What happened to the usual 'Diggory. Hey.' Should I now switch to a 'Hey Lucianna.'?" he looked at her with a smug expression.

She was growing paler by the second and her heartbeat was sprinting. She panicked. "I wanted to introduce you to Mafalda Hopkirk." She blurted before her face gave out too much. "Mafalda, this is Amos." she gestured to Amos. "Amos, this is Mafalda." She did the same toward Mafalda who gave her an urgent look as if to say 'make him talk to me'.

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to suppress her anger and put a smile on her face. "Amos could you please help Mafalda with… History of magic?" She asked in a pleasant voice.

He looked at her strangely. "Why don't you do it yourself, I heard you were top ten in your year?"

Before she had a chance to answer Mafalda cut across. "Lucianna is helping Anya and Claire. And whenever she did try to explain it to me she failed. She's good in studying but is a terrible teacher so I think someone should try." Mafalda said in her-Hermione didn't doubt-trained pureblood voice.

Hermione's smile fell and her eyes narrowed but she put it back on before Mafalda had a chance to notice. Amos Diggory seemed to catch this and looked at Lucianna with a question in his head. Hermione looked at him with the same smile and turned her head to Mafalda, then back to Amos. "I'll make it up to you." She mouthed and he seemed to understand.

He nodded. "I'll check my schedule Hopkirk." He smiled at her and turned his gaze to Hermione. "See you 'round Riddle. Oh, and by the way, happy birthday." Hermione smiled back.

After the encounter with the Hufflepuff Lucianna was dragged back to the Slytherin table with Mafalda chatering about the smile he gave her and how it meant something. She patiently listened and managed to swallow some french toast before the owls flew in. Hermione had received three owls from home. One was a box from her parents, another two smaller ones were from her brothers and another one from a friend of her parent's. If any letters were sent Hermione guessed that they were inside the boxes. She silently picked the four of them up and started walking away.

"Lucianna, where are you going? We are celebrating your birthday in the dormitory." The squeaky voice was invading Hermione again.

"I need to go to Madam Pomfrey, it's about my headache." the lie escaped her lips easily. "I'll meet you in the dormitory later. You need to think about what to wear to study with Amos." she suggested quickly before fleeing to the statue of the gargoyle.

Staying in 1974 for less than 24 hours she was sure of one thing. If she disliked Mafalda Hopkirk for siding with Umbridge in the 1990's, she hated her from the day Lucianna met her in 1971. She knew perfectly well that Lucianna would agree, after all Lucianna and Hermione were the same person in different circumstances.

…

 **Author's Note: So… Hermione is settling into her new life/Lucianna life and some things will start to make sense for her soon. Please, tell me what you think about this chapter and thank you for reading the story.**

 **-Alli**


	4. Chaper 3:Meeting the Marauders

**Chapter 3: Meeting the Marauders**

Her eyesight was greeted by Albus Dumbledore who stood near the gargoyle statue. "Miss Riddle, your punctuality didn't disappoint."

"Thank you sir."

If he saw the boxes in her arms, he paid them no mind and walked up the stairs after saying "Jelly Slugs." Hermione followed.

After coming into the office he motioned for her to sit down. "Acid pop?" He asked.

"No, thank you sir." She watched him take one and push it into his mouth. She smiled, she felt a sense of safety wash down her spine, this was a mirror image to her past-future.

"Now, I need to ask you, Miss Riddle what were the circumstances of your arrival?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Hermione considered her answer opting on the truth. "Sir, I was supposed to be born in 1926 becoming a sister to Tom Marvolo Riddle. After I took the potion and chanted the spell I started thinking of 1926 but I got distracted due to some… things… I then fell into a pensive and watched the memories of a wizard who is attending now. After that… my thoughts were a bit mixed up."

A spark of curiosity settled in her Headmaster's eyes.

"There's a question I really wanted to ask sir, the potion should have appeared only under someone's death. Said someone was alive but before I had a chance to see him I felt like someone was controlling me and I read the letter. This obviously, lead me to take the potion but before coming here I saw that person alive. How could the potion appear if the person was alive?"

"I'm afraid that I cannot answer." He continued after a small pause. "Miss Riddle, you have mentioned some memories, might I ask, who did those belong to?"

Hermione bit her lip, she was trying to avoid that information. "It would be too much of a risk for me to tell you."

Albus Dumbledore nodded. "It seems I have send you here to prevent Tom's destruction. How can you help? How will you help?"

Hermione furrowed her brows. "Sir, if you're planning on changing things now I will not help you. There is a timeline which I need followed, that way it would be easier to defeat Voldemort." She paused. "So until a certain time has come, I will not help. I can't afford to disturb the timeline I know. I want to keep it the same until a certain point where I can change it." she explained.

He seemed to be thinking it through. "You were a good choice after all." He smiled. "Thank you for your sacrifice Miss Riddle, my time is running short, as I have a meeting soon but if there is anything I could do to help please tell me."

"Actually sir, I would like to know, how did the potion and spell work? What exactly were its properties?"

"It would be best for you to find out later, I only can say that it no longer exists and there is no more of it."

Lucianna-Hermione sighed in relief. "Can I ask a favour of you?"

"That depends on what you ask."

"I saw how the students in Slytherin treat me, it isn't very pleasant. I know you know what I asked of the sorting hat in 1971." She continued after the Headmaster nodded. "In my time, I was in a different house and this time I think it would be helpful if I were in a different house too. What I'm trying to say is, Professor, is there any chance I could be sorted again?"

"I think that would be justified as long as we come up with something reasonable, but you'd have to wait until the beginning your fourth year."

"I understand. Thank you." She stood up.

"Oh and Miss Riddle, happy birthday." Albus Dumbledore motioned her to the stairs. "Goodbye." she nodded in gratitude.

"Thank you Professor." And then she left.

She was walking towards the stairs when she let her curiosity get the best of her and moved toward the Fat Lady's corridor. She smiled as she watched some second years move there. She had to be in the Slytherin common room soon, she turned around with a huff and moved back to the stairs. Before she could reach them the headache hit her again. She dropped the boxes with the book and pressed her hands to her head. Another memory came toward her.

 _Lorenzo. Lorenzo was at the door when she entered the house. It was Monday, the 6th of August 1973 when she left but she, only entered the house on the 7th. Lucianna was soaked from the rain and the tears and stood there waiting for his reaction. Lorenzo couldn't move for a few seconds while his brain registered what happened. One, two, three, four, five, six. Lucianna was swooped into the arms of her brother and they both started crying._

 _"Don't you ever do that again Hermione."_

 _Her father was on a business trip for another week but her mother was returning today. Two days earlier Lucianna stopped taking her dance lessons, after having a huge disagreement with the teacher, it ended with him asking her to 'get out'. Her mother had found out and called her immediately to start the scolding, unfortunately this time, she wasn't as forgiving. The words 'I'll come home tomorrow and I'll kill you' echoed through her mind. This is when her plan started hatching._

 _Lucianna opened Lysander's hiking bag. She rapidly stuffed some practical clothes, tissues, candy, a hairbrush and a mirror into the bag. She hid her wand under a sleeve and brushed of her tears. She threw the bag out of the balcony along with a pair of boots. It was raining and her mother would come in an hour. Her room was burning with fear. She put on a pair of jeans and a sweater and started walking around the room in her socks. (That was also her mother's idea that she picked up on a trip to Asia. Their shoes were put off in the entrance of the house, it was meant to keep the house 'cleaner'.)_

 _Soon enough, her mother was at her door. She was screaming, shouting, and yelling. Lucianna stood her ground and told her mother that she didn't like the lessons. Another wave of fury was splashed on Lucciana, who refused to back down. The day before, she decided to face her mother, damn the consequences. She was crying now but still refused to apologise. At some point her lamp was smashed inches away from Lucianna and the vase came even closer. When her mother had picked up a ceramic statue Lucianna exploded with rage. 'I hate living like this. I hate living with you!' she screamed before running to the garden door. Her mother was hot on her trail but after leaving into the wet garden her mother couldn't keep up with her._

 _Lucianna put on her boots quickly and fastened the bag on her back. The next thing she knew was happening, was that she was out of the Riddle grounds and running into an abandoned building. She poured her tears out, whilst the knots in her throat tightened, forcing her to sob hysterically. Her next 4 hours were spent there, in an wreckage of a building, under the rain. She looked as if she had a bath in there. Lucianna decided to return an hour after midnight (not that she knew it). The cause being her thoughts of her father and brothers, but in the end she had to admit that she did it for her mother too. No matter how much she feared the woman, she loved her dearly because of the small moments when her mother had hugged her and told her that she was the best thing in her world._

 _Lucianna believed her, she always did because she knew it to be true. So this one time, she gathered all the courage that was left in her and walked back to her house. She'd face her mother again, and this time she'd make sure to win. But the fight that she was expecting never came. After Lorenzo hugged her, Lysander followed behind quickly and threatened to steal_ her owl. _She laughed with a sob escaping her and then she came face to face with her mother._

 _Her mother apologised and kissed her a million times before telling her own story. She found out that her mother was abused as a child and they cried together. Ever since that day her mother had been more cautious around her but she still lost her temper twice. Every now and then she would apologise. Upon her father's return, the family had hugged together and cried. Her father told her how proud he was of her, she was growing up._

Hermione opened her eyes with a distraught sob escaping her. She had lived through all these terrors. She had 4 memories back and they had caused her so much pain and it was only morning. She wondered what would happen by the end of the day.

"Are you alright?" came a voice before her. Her eyes met the golden ones of Remus Lupin, behind him were James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

Her body froze, so it was true. All those times people said that Harry was a carbon copy of James, it was all true. The only difference were the eyes but James Potter looked exactly like his son. She looked at her past (for her, future for him) Professor, he already had little scars on his face from the transformations, she felt sorry for the prejudice he'd have to face. Her eyes lingered to her best friend's godfather, she remembered his death and a his unfair life, a tear escaped her right eye. Hermione brushed the hair of her face and refused to look at the fourth one. She knew that if she did, she might take out her anger on him, not that she was against it but it would be slightly problematic with the rest of the Marauders watching.

"Riddle, what are you doing here?" asked Sirius to whom Remus threw an accusing look.

Her body couldn't move.

"Riddle, what is going on? Why are you here?" asked James. Peter, the rat nodded in agreement.

"Stop it, she's clearly disturbed. What's wrong?" Remus addressed his friends before addressing her. James and Sirius looked guilty before putting on a mask of indifference.

Peter cut across. "What's a slimy Slytherin like you doing on our territory?"

Remus threw a glare at all of his friends before jerking his head to Hermione.

"Peter, I think Remus' right." Sirius whispered to his friend. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

Her shock was wearing of and she wiped her tears before looking at them. "I had a headache, I'll go now." She sat down to pick up the boxes with the book.

"Didn't look like a headache." James muttered before helping her with the rest of her books signalling the Marauders to follow.

Hermione was a little shocked, after seeing all their hatred towards Slytherin she assumed that they would insult and bully her. Perhaps, the hatred to her house hasn't settled yet.

"Whoaw, is this a first edition?" Sirius looked at her before setting his eyes on the book.

"Yes." she laughed with tears, there was something strange about seeing him with pure excitement in his eyes.

He passed it back to her. "Where did you get it?"

"I..." Her mind was searching for a way to explain it. "It was a birthday present?" She asked more than stated.

Luckily they didn't seem to notice, Sirius' and James' excitement grew while Remus stared at the book, probably trying to find a way to read it.

"Why are we helping her? She's a Slytherin." squeaked Peter.

Lucianna's head snapped to the irritating sound. "Not all Slytherins are evil and not all Gryffindors are good." She said thinking back to Severus Snape's story. "Some of them will grow into the people you couldn't dream to reach the levels of."

"Well give me an example, if you're so sure."

"Regulus Black." she said refraining from Severus Snape's name as her example would be disapproved by the rest of them.

Peter fought back. "No he's not. He's a little-"

Sirius' face became red with anger and sadness, Hermione noticed it. In an instant she was apologising. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have- I'm sorry." she pleaded, he waved her off. James and Remus were scowling at the brunette and the blond.

"Sirius, I'm-" Peter started.

"It's alright, we should go now." He said. "Bye Riddle." He looked at her and started turning away.

"Wait." Her mind was buzzing, she would probably be sorted back to Gryffindor next year, giving her a chance to win their trust. She also had to stop the traitor from killing her best friend's parents and putting Harry's godfather into Azkaban and leaving Lupin alone. Her decision was made. She saw them turn to look at her. "I want to apologise if I have ever done anything bad to you, any of you. I recently had a change of heart-muggle phrase-and it changed many of my intentions. I'm not asking you to be my friends or acquaintances, I just want to offer you my help, with anything. I can even give you the passwords to the Slytherin common room for your pranks. That is if we put our history behind us."

They looked at her like she'd fallen off the moon. "Are you joking?" James asked.

"No."

"How do we know that you are trustworthy?" Inquired Remus.

"You don't but if I am lying you four can prank me into oblivion." She retorted with a thread of hope.

"What of your friends?" She looked up at Sirius who had his brow raised up.

There was tension in the air. "You can't really call them friends, can you? Well unless friendship means letting people degrade you. I only see them as twitchy little ferrets." She said with the most serious face, wishing for this to loosen the pressure.

They laughed, slightly. "See you around Riddle." Called James, they walked away.

And again she was left alone to her thoughts. She walked down the stairs, carefully balancing the book between the boxes. She couldn't believe that she'd done it. She had actually made a step toward befriending the Marauders. Eventually, she could find a way to get rid of the rat. She promised herself that they would be safe, she would make sure that Harry and Ron had a better life. She smiled to herself, she'd make sure of their happiness. If she couldn't do it in the future and lost the chance to do it from the past (1938) she would save them here, in her now-present.

'Celebrating' her birthday with the Slytherins wasn't as dreadful as she imagined. She expected it to be a dull event where they would gossip whilst making fun of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Instead when she came back from her 'trip to the Hospital Wing' her roomates demanded she open the presents. Mafalda's present, in the green package-that she didn't open in the morning-held a leather notebook with a 'L.R.' inscripted on the right corner. Anya and Claire had given her a joint present which was a muggle record player which they later used to put on some music while they played a game of exploding snap.

They played various more games before lunch when they granted her some privacy to go to an extra-curricular and a book club. She returned to the dorm later in the evening when all three of them were out. Taking the book out from the inside of her robes she searched for her wand. She remembered the jealous glances Anya and Mafalda shared regarding the book so Hermione had to make sure to hide it. She wasn't stupid enough to put it under the bed or some hidden pocket of a trunk, she'd place it in a bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm cast upon it and would make sure that the bag doesn't open to anyone but the owner.

All she needed was her wand. Hermione, thinking of the places where she would have kept it found it in the third drawer of the her nightstand along with a schedule and some Arithmancy notebooks. She took it to cast a spell but in a moment something felt terribly wrong. Instead of her 10 and thee quarters, vine wood and dragon heartstring wand there was someone else's. She didn't put it past her mind that she might have end up with a different wand but a part of her hoped that her wand would always be with her. In her had lay an wand with the same size as her previous but it had a different wood that she recognised quickly. It was elder.

She furrowed her brows thinking back to the information she read on elder wands, they were the rarest of the wand woods but considered to be greatly unlucky. Wizards or witches who had a pairing with the wood were said to have a special destiny. She relaxed slightly, she supposed coming to the past to destroy Voldemort was special enough. After a minute or two of thinking she cast the charm, it worked better than with her vine wand. Why hadn't the wand chosen her in the future? Sweeping her thoughts away she cast some more spells for protection and hid the book inside the bag. She could rest now.

 **Author's Note: I really hope you liked this chapter, I was worried if I made the mistake of Hermione-Lucianna meeting the Marauders too soon. I would be pleased to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading the story, I wish you the best.**

 **-Alli**


	5. Chapter 4:Faces & Memories

**Chapter 4: Faces and Memories**

 _She woke up with a gasp. It was August 15th, 1973 today. Lorenzo was had left yesterday, she was alone now. Her eldest twenty-three year old brother had got his degree in psychology and travelled back to France to start a career. She remembered him telling her in secret that he missed the country in which he had lived for nine years, he missed the place where he had grown up. Lorenzo had told her that he regretted her not growing up there as well, he wanted his little sister to fall in love with the place he considered his home._

" _I can never, not like you. Even if I do love it there, I'll miss this place, this is my home." She told him._

" _I know, I promise to visit you on Christmas break. Rosa, I know you'll feel lonely without me but you'll have Lysander-"_

" _Just like I had you for the past five years." Lucianna told him stiffly._

" _Rosa, don't." She turned away. "Rosa?" She still was silent. "Hermione?" He put a hand to her shoulder. "Hermione, I know you don't want me to leave but I have to. I want to be my own person, to live without… them, their expectations and responsibilities."_

 _She looked at him. "Why can't you do it from here?"_

" _Hermione, I know who I am and I know what I want to do but I know that if I stay here I can never fully be in control. Please, try to understand." He paused. "It's like you being a witch, would you stop doing magic after you finished Hogwarts just because they told you so?"_

" _No."_

" _This-me going back to France is my magic. I want to continue doing it, so please let me."_

 _She loosened up a bit. "I don't want to be alone. When both you and Lysander were in university it felt so lonely and now you'll leave to another country, Alex will be in his study world and I will be alone."_

" _Hermione, you're never really alone. So whenever you feel like it just know that I'll be there for you." She turned back to him. "Please."_

 _She put her hands around him. "Renzo, will you write to me from France?"_

" _Of course Hermione."_

" _Every time something happens. I'll let you go then."_

 _She felt him kiss her forehead. She loved him. She felt a strong connection with her brothers, it felt lonely when they choose their lessons over her but she knew that they loved her in their own way. Lucianna loved how they called her 'Rosa' instead of 'Rosalind' and Hermione just because they wanted to. In return she called Lorenzo 'Renzo' and she read somewhere that the name 'Lysander' originated from 'Alexander', hence the nickname 'Alex'. Their parents didn't want their children to have shortened names but the siblings did it between themselves, it was like a small, intimate gesture all siblings develop over time. The one which brought happy memories too._

 _She'd be going back to Hogwarts in half a month. Luckily Narcissa Black had graduated last year and no more taunts would be heard from her but she still didn't want to face the cold, hatred-filled stares. She knew she could make friends with some of the Ravenclaws or a Slytherin muggleborn a year above her but she didn't want to. For some reason whatsoever Lucianna Rosalind Hermione Riddle always felt a hole in her heat waiting to be filled with the right people. Through her childhood she waited for them, for any friend who would finally fill the emptiness but he never came._

 _No, she wouldn't befriend a Ravenclaw, maybe the Slytherin muggleborn, however, not the Ravenclaws since they made her feel stupid. She perfectly knew that she was far more knowledgeable than most of them but whenever they said something they made it sound as if it's a secret unknown only to them, making them the superior. Besides, she already had Amos Diggory and Benjy Fenwick, who were better friends than any of the Slytherins. She liked their company and they liked hers too and it was also much easier to talk to them because unlike her overly annoying roommates they understood her. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make her look forward to a new year. It would be her third year too. She sighed inwardly. If only she was in a different house, that way she could do whatever she wanted to, without having to fight and survive her housemates. She sighed._

" _Hermione, what are you worried about?"_

" _Nothing, I'm just tired."_

Hermione woke up. The clock showed that it was 06:15, in the morning. She figured she best get ready now because she knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep any time soon. She studied her schedule again before putting the right books in her bag-which now had a feather-light charm on it-and going towards the bathroom.

Yesterday (Sunday) was full of headaches. They distracted her to the point where she had to go to Madam Pomfrey to ask for a sleeping potion that would allow her to see dreams. So, the previous day Hermione had spent in the infirmary dreaming of living her previous life. Almost all her memories that came on Sunday were fencing related; the positioning of arms, running before the lessons, stretching after the lessons and doing the training itself. Then Hermione learnt that she was still taking the class (and actually enjoying it) on her summer holidays along with some muggle homeschooling.

She also happened to see some of her memories of talking with her parents, brothers and some of her neighbors. Quickly, she saw that her relationship with her father was very restrained and that she was terrified of her mother, despite her usual Gryffindor-like actions in other situations of her new life. What baffled her the most was that she couldn't remember their faces. Whenever she woke up from her memories the faces that she saw faded out from her. She knew that her mother had the same hair as her and that her father often wore a blue wool sweater but whenever she tried picturing their faces she couldn't do it. The same thing happened with all the other faces she saw in her dreams, she remembered the faintest details but never could picture the full thing. It was like someone was constantly spraying a thick mist around them.

Frustrated, she started combing her hair. This felt odd. She knew that somehow, in this life she managed to make her hair slightly less frizzy but that was still a enigma to her. The brush slowly made its way through her hair and what surprised her was that it didn't get stuck between her evil curls. The effect was actually the exact opposite and her bushy twists were arranging themselves into volumized waves. They still looked like her old hair, mind you, but now it looked like she was purposefully styling it this way. Only one thing could make sense as an answer to this mystery: the brush was charmed.

After finishing her endeavour in the bathroom she slowly walked out to the room she shared with the three other girls. The green light from the lake was illuminating the room with the shade of a killing curse. She missed the warm rays of sunshine she would feel on her face with the swirls of red colour whispering around her. The dungeons in comparison were cold and quiet, they did give her peace to read books but other than that they only managed to scare her.

It was 06:35 now and with no other thing to do she decided to look over the presents her family sent again. Her parents have sent her a silver photo frame for a future picture along with a pair of tanzanite earrings and a pendant. Her brothers sent her similar jewellery one being a violet flower made in gold while the other was a white-gold Hermione-rose. No letters were attached to any of them, only notes saying 'happy birthday'. Her family was less affectionate than she imagined.

She snorted, of course they were the Riddles. She remembered the story of her now-grandfather's arrogance of how easy it was for him to abandon a woman pregnant with his child, who said her now-father wouldn't do the same thing? Her mother had probably come from a rich family and that was the only reason they married. She remembered that her mother was abused as a child but who said it wasn't in a big house? Her parents were psychologically abusing her so who said that it wasn't on purpose? Still, a part of her told her that they were different, that part had burned with love for them.

…

She was left behind at breakfast after the owls have delivered their post. Her 'friends' (or twitchy little ferrets) have left to get to go somewhere, excluding her specifically, she supposed the action was done to hurt her but in fact it she felt relieved without their nauseating presence. She stood up with a sense of calm and decided to head early for-she checked her schedule-Arithmancy, she recalled her love for the subject and grinned slightly.

"Oi, Riddle." before she had the chance to look someone took her by the arm and she was spun around to face two Hufflepuffs, one of them she recognised as Amos Diggory.

"Umm… hi." She said trying to forge a mask of ease. She slowly put her wand back into her pocket, hoping they didn't notice her reaction.

"Where were you yesterday?" said the boy she tried desperately to recognise.

"I was at the hospital wing." she answered without having to lie.

"Are you alright?" the Cedric look-alike spoke.

"I had a terrible headache but I'm all right now. I have to go-Arithmancy." Hermione tried to finish the conversation.

"We'll meet you at the library later right?"

She stiffened, it didn't help that she had very little of her school memories, she didn't know what her relationship was with these people. And where was she supposed to be yesterday? She also didn't know what they meant by 'later'. She tried to suppress her worry with a smile. "Sure, what time?"

The boy who she didn't know looked at her like she asked a stupid question. "After lessons." he said, stating it like it was something obvious.

She nodded quickly and left as soon as possible going up to the seventh floor.

Who was that boy? After some logical thinking and going through the process of elimination she concluded he was Benjy Fenwick. It would be the only reasonable explanation and she could use itas an opportunity to ask them about some of her life. She nod her head in approval of her thoughts and pushed the door open.

Upon entering the class Hermione had to suppress her emotions after seeing James Potter with Remus Lupin sitting on the tables. Overwhelming thumps echoed in her chest while her body started feeling weak and disoriented. Emotions were threatening to take control of her actions as she forced herself to think of her other problems, biting her lower lip as hard as possible.

The boys seemed to have notice someone come in and sharply turned their gazes toward her. She smiled sweetly at them, noticing the obvious bond of friendship which they shared. They looked back with confusion.

"So you were serious?" asked James.

"Yes, I was." she answered.

Remus gave James a _'Ha! I told you so'_ grin.

"Are you sure you weren't hit by a bludger or are you playing a ridiculous prank?"

She understood their wariness around her and mentally took a note to be very sincere towards them. "No, I genuinely would like us to be civil to each other. The passwords to the Slytherin common room was a peace offering. I don't see a reason for us to hate each other."

"But you're a Slytherin and your friends are… well I sure can't call them the best companions." James arched a brow at her.

"I don't need a public acceptance if that's what your thinking, I just need a..." she stopped for a second, searching for a right way to put her words. "sort of ally-in you and your friends."

"What have you got to gain from such allies?" this question was from Remus who now had a frown on his face.

"I..." well, she couldn't just tell them that she needed to win their trust to eventually stop Peter from betraying them, killing James and Lily along with a bunch of innocent muggles in the process. Then framing Sirius and throwing him into Azkaban for twelve years and leaving Remus behind to doubt everyone. "have reasons." she muttered mostly to herself.

They eyed her skeptically at her, showing more signs of mistrust. "I just want help, with transfiguration." she cringed at her own words, looking at their strange expressions. "I mean tutoring at pranking." she added.

Before they had a chance to answer the door burst open and Professor Septima Vector came inside the classroom. Hermione sat on the second row and briefly glanced back at the duo during class, they were sniggering about a joke one of them made and Hermione went back to her-not so challenging anymore-work to push away the memories of Harry and Ron that invaded her mind. She wanted to cry, scream, shout, do anything about it, but she couldn't, she had to be strong, she had to save the future.

After receiving her homework and asking for extra, which would keep her mind away from the memories before sleep she rushed out of the cabinet to go to Care of Magical Creatures where she met Sirius who asked her similar questions while Remus continued observing from the side. She tried her best to keep calm but after the Potions class where she encountered a Lily Evans talking to Severus Snape she couldn't keep it in anymore and ran into the girls' bathroom on the second floor where she shattered into painful memories of Hermione Granger.

She remembered the troll encounter in her first year and their quest for the Philosopher's stone. She remembered the relief she felt when seeing Harry's face after waking up from being petrified. She remembered figuring out that her Professor was a werewolf and finding out that Sirius Black wasn't the traitor, the time-travelling with Harry to save them him and Buckbeak. She remembered her fourth year with Harry in the competition and Ron being Ron, she let out a cry.

She thought she was saving them, she believed that it was for the best. Harry turned out to be alive for Godric's sake, she could have had a good life, helping to fix everyone after the war, she could fix herself too. And Ron… she loved him! She remembered the betrayal she felt when he left, she remembered their little arguments, she remembered their kiss in the Chamber of Secrets and how he hugged her on various occasions. They weren't perfect but she felt a warmth in her heart with him that she did with no one else, the sense of familiarity while looking at him through meals.

Her heart was pounding, threatening to stop working and her breath became hungrier, reaching for any air she could get. She knew she was having a panic attack and she knew that she hold her breath for it to end but the emptiness of her lungs made her gasp for more. She could see her vision blurring as her breath became shallow. The world around her was darkening and fading into a wonderful black colour.

…

"Okay, Hermione. What's on your mind?"

She stared at Benjy and Amos, surprised that they called her the same way her brothers did. Perhaps she did have friends as close as Harry and Ron. She was about to furrow her brows, indicating a question but Benjy beat her to it.

"You haven't been acting like yourself-wait, let me rephrase that. You have been acting exactly like yourself but it's like you're being hostile, as if we're back in first year. So, what's on your mind?"

"Oh, and don't even try blaming it on your dorm mates or family issues because we know that it's something different so what happened Hermione?" added Amos.

"I'm sorry, I just-I don't know what's happening. In theory I should be fine but it's somehow-" her vision blurred. "sad seeing everyone careless and happy, I just want everyone to hold on to that because most of us will live as a broken shell of what there was before." she didn't know why the sudden rush of the partial truth came to her but before she registered their reaction the boys had wrapped her in their arms.

"I'm scared too Hermione, I'm so scared."

"It's going to be alright. There won't be another war."

"I hope so too." she answered.

…

 **Author's Note: Did you like it, I really hope you did because I'm not sure about the ending of this chapter. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and supporting, I wish you the best.**

 **-Alli**


	6. Chapter 5:So this is how it began

**Chapter 5: So this is how it began**

Hermione was perfecting her 'extra credit' for Ancient Runes when the action she anticipated and awaited came to life. She was mildly irritated by the lack of progress she had made in befriending the Marauders. They had asked an idiotic-in Hermione's opinion-question consisting of a simple 'why?' and when she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation that wouldn't have her locked up in St Mungo's they continued on with their suspicions.

When she grew tired of their wariness she turned to befriending Severus and Lily to find out that she couldn't. The memories of the older Severus Snape were too freshly sewn into her memory, they seemed too raw, as if they were something that was otherworldly and too real. Whenever she tried coming up to the pair the emotions that had build up started painfully stabbing into her heart so she didn't-couldn't try anything. The fact that Lily's eyes were the colour of oak tree leaves was another ordeal.

Sometimes she asked herself the question she felt so guilty for answering. She knew that given the opportunity she would go back to her first world and that was what worried her. She had parents that adored her as much as they did the first time around and two brothers that she loved immensely. She had friends that would go beyond the limit for her and she had places to go to if everything went down the hill. Most importantly, in here she had a safety and certain stability that she never managed to grasp the first time around, but still, she wanted go back.

However, Hermione knew that she shouldn't leave her brothers no matter how much they abandoned her, she shouldn't leave her parents no matter how much they pressured her and she shouldn't leave this world for the memory of that one. She shouldn't leave this world just to get her happiness back if that meant that everyone she loved here would suffer.

She knew that if they did win in 1998 Harry would forever blame himself for the death of the many in the war and try to bury his thoughts in his head. Ron would never fully recover the loss of his loved ones and live in a paranoid state that he would try his best to cover up. Many more would just drown themselves in alcohol to numb the pain and their feelings until they couldn't remember any longer.

Hermione could now prevent it all. She had all the power in this situation. But the question was: how much would it break her? Or could she do it alone if it was already close to impossible when her, Ron and Harry were involved?

A bold voice brought her out of her inner monologue. As the words that sounded something like 'will you marry me?' were said in a joking tone a bright red-headed girl had slapped a messy, black haired boy with a quill in hand and said something including the Giant Squid and flobberworms before storming out of the library. Hermione's eyes widened.

"Did she just slap me using a quill?" James' eyes were dancing with bewilderment and disbelief. His right hand smudged the now-present ink on his face.

The three others occupants of the table tried suppressing their laughter before nodding energetically and offering a quiet "Yep.", "Yes" or an "It was amazing.".

Just before Sirius could point out on Lily Evans' words after the 'slapping' James had a unnatural gleam in his eyes. "Moony, Sirius, Pete, I was joking-when I asked her to marry me. But-" he paused scratching his head, further disheveling the untidy hair. "-I think I want to ask her to Hogsmeade now. Wow. Was she always this pretty?" he stood up on the table. "I want to this moment to be in history!"

A small fire started dancing in her heart with a smile tugging at the side of her lips as the four occupants of the table were ushered away from the library. One phrase was occupying her mind: so this is how it began.

…

Soon enough it was three months past the 19th of January (19th of April) and Hermione had taken to research of any sorts to keep her mind away of any painful memories. It was dinner and she decided to skip, telling her so-called-friends that she had a stomach ache.

Hermione, deciding that she shouldn't take Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem yet-due to the influence she remembered having from the locket-searched for various methods of preserving magic in limited areas of space. She was currently reading a book about historical relics that have unusual magical properties in an effort to find something that might be of help. She skimmed through the part about Godric Gryffindor's sword and was reading about the Sorting Hat when a gentle tugging snapped her out of her struggles.

At the hem of her robe sat a granite grey cat, staring at her with his equally grey, marble like eyes. He had quickly spit out the edge of her robe as his tongue brushed the fur around his mouth in a swirling motion.

She set her book on the couch and picked up the cat she suspected to be part kneezle. "Hello beautiful, what's your name?"

He in return jumped onto her lap and slid his head under her arm. Hermione chuckled lightly. She started brushing his grey fur subconsciously and continued her reading.

 _-proved to be ineffectual for it has commonly breached through the minds of most powerful Occlumens. The Sorting Hat has also proven to see forgotten or highly suppressed memories and-_

"Ow!" She felt something sharp stab into her still arm. Hermione locked gazes with the marble eyes that were glaring at her. She huffed with annoyance before continuing the careful stroking that she had stopped when reading that chapter.

After four more minutes of paper turning the book was closed. She stared out into the empty common room. She didn't know that the Sorting Hat could see any suppressed, forgotten or magically enhanced memories. This also meant that it could see and did see her suppressed memories, which meant that-

-she should stay in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat obviously knew what it was doing and if it had let her convince it then she most likely belonged here in this era. Why had she been so stupid, naively assuming that she could go back to Gryffindor and have a happy life. No, Gryffindor would draw much unwanted attention, especially the changing houses thing, it was better when her house mates only saw her as an unworthy little annoyance. After all, no attention meant no suspicions on her true notions.

She heard hurried footsteps approaching the common room. Dinner was over. Hermione reluctantly stood up and picked up the book which she took a note of in her leather journal to buy later. She had to return the original to the library.

Those marble eyes were glaring again. "Sorry, but I really need to get going and your owner will be here very soon so… I hope to see you later." She pet his head once before setting out to go return the book to her free time heaven.

Hermione happily noted that her way to the library was uneventful except for a greeting with Benjy and Amos that she very much appreciated. She had learned quickly what their friendship toward was, and happily stayed in a trusting regime with them. She did scold them for not completing their homework and helped them with some classes which they thanked her for but kept teasing about with an 'if you marry someone, it will most certainly be a book'. She smiled fondly at the memories.

After passing a few more halls she reached the library and giving yet another pass to the restricted section to Madame Vone-who was the Hogwarts librarian currently-she entered the doors and searched for the shelf she took the book from. She put the book back carefully and stayed in the same spot for a while, looking at the other books that might help her, but to her dismay she found nothing.

The sudden increase of the thumping of her heart and a chilly coat of wind that was thrown onto her back alarmed Hermione. She decided to leave the library as soon as the prickling sensations continued to grow onto her neck. She took two steps before her limbs tumbled and she fell onto the floor without being able to catch herself.

Inhaling deeply, she collected her thoughts and tried to stand up. -She couldn't, something was keeping her from moving. The chill ran down her spine again. A water-like substance was crawling up her toes and sending her body into shock with it's ice cold temperature. She felt it reaching her knees. The cold water started rising higher with its aggressive motions giving her no choice but to try crawling out of there. Hermione saw the door when the water had touched her stomach. It was started pressing down and squashing her from around her body. It was at her neck.

She had managed to get to the doorframe and tried pushing herself out before the water swallowed her fully but as soon as her fingers were out of the restricted section the water had engulfed her body fully and was dragging her to the other direction. The fight was going on for a minute before Hermione's oxygen supply ran out and she was choking violently. Her hands started losing their grip as her eyes were giving into the empty darkness which now felt, oh, so inviting. She tried her best to hold on, she even gave a final push towards the door but nothing could help her in this situation. With no strength to fight she let go and gave into the cold darkness.

One last image entered her head before she could fall: a book was lying on a corner shelf of a library, titled 'The Peverell Bloodline'.

…

Her hands reached around her neck while her lungs coughed out the water. She didn't have enough air. Again and again, Hermione took big gulps of oxygen. The only task on her mind was to fill the hunger her body gained. After regaining a steady breathing pattern she just lay there. She didn't know where she was, in fact she didn't care where she was as long as she could breathe. Eyes shut, hands on her heart and adrenaline pumping in her veins-she was safe for now.

She only opened her eyes to look around after what she assumed was a 15 minute rest. To her confusion, she was in the same spot of the restricted section of the library where the water started creeping on her, the only difference now was that she could stand up and nothing was trying to kill her-or that was at least what she thought. She checked for her wand and was even more surprised to find that she was dry and so was the spot she presumed she coughed the water out on. What was wrong with her? Better yet, what was wrong with one of the books that has done this to her? Or was it a student? Maybe a protection jinx?

She was a mess, she probably had overworked herself before fainting in the library and having a bad dream. _What's the time anyway?_ She thought before casting a Tempus and groaning in realization that it was close to midnight and she'd now had to sneak past Filch. She wasn't used to relying on the Marauders map but now she desperately wished it had come to the past with her.

As quietly as possible, Hermione crept out of the library and started sneaking into the dungeons when she heard a screeching meow behind her followed by two loud footsteps.

"I know you're in there." A younger, yet more horrid voice of the Hogwarts' caretaker said. "You can't hide!"

Then the footsteps grew faster and Hermione started to run. Looking around for tapestries or any of the shortcuts known to her she ran up the stairs hoping it would slow down Filch. Unfortunately, she found none. And to her dismay the portraits started shushing and berating her loudly. She was sure she'd be caught because of the sound if the caretaker wouldn't catch her on his own.

She turned towards the third floor corridor where she remembered her first year adventures taking place and smiled slightly before running to up the room with the trapdoor and rushing in. She closed the door with a thud and took a calming breath. Now she just had to wait it out.

"What are you two little students doing in here?" She flinched and turned towards the sound. Peeves. "Breaking curfew are you? My, my…"

Before she could open her mouth to protest she was cut off by his voice that turned louder. "A second and a third year Slytherin! Breaking curfew! Planning on shaving Mrs Norris?!"

A second after the door was smashed open and Filch had rushed in. She was grabbed by the back of her collar and pushed further into the room when she heard a squeak and turned to see that there was another student-presumably the second year-held by her back collar, just as trapped as Hermione was.

Filch lowered his head and grimaced at the two students. "Tried to hide, did you? How I miss the days when you'd both be caned." Hermione was pushed back to the door before Filch started dragging her and the other student to the dungeons.

She determined to keep her mouth shut before she was in more trouble than now but she could have sworn she heard a small, mumbled 'we're sorry' from the second year. Today was definitely not her day.

…

"Five points from Slytherin for your misbehaviour Miss Riddle. The same applies to you Miss Silunova." Slughorn looked at them both with disappointment. "Your detention will be held next Tuesday with me. I don't expect this sort of behaviour from my top students, what has gotten into you both?" He paused making a face of complexion and disappointment. "We will discuss this later on your detention." Professor Slughorn glanced at them again and walked out leaving them both in the Slytherin common room.

"I'm so sorry, I probably got you caught." Said the other student, she looked at Hermione with a panicked expression.

"It's alright, Peeves would have got me caught anyway." Hermione offered her a tired smile.

"Are you sure?" The second year said with an uncertainty.

"Yes, it's fine." Hermione was about to turn around to go to her dorm when she heard the other student speak again. She didn't hate the girl but she found her rather annoying, especially when she was very tired and desperately wanted to go to bed.

"I'm Lina by the way. I know it's a weird name but my family isn't from here so… " the girl-Lina smiled again and Hermione picked up her accent. It didn't sound British, it sounded a lot like American but it was missing something. Hermiones' interest spiked.

"Are you from the States? Your accent sounds similar to theirs."

"Umm… no, I am actually from Kazakhstan, which is in the Soviet Union so I'm from there, but my accent is neutral I suppose, I started learning English from an early age so it doesn't really sound Russian." The girl said quickly.

Hermione briefly remembered her Christmas holiday in her first year and recalled the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 before nodding. "I'm Lucianna Riddle." She offered before deciding on something else. "Call me Hermione."

"That's an interesting name." Said the girl and looked at the clock on the wall. "It was nice to meet you but I think that we really should go to sleep because it's nearly one am."

Hermione nodded abscently going back to her dorm and jumping into the bed straight after brushing her teeth and changing. Her day was certainly an interesting one. She would continue to search more on containing spells and artefacts tomorrow.

…

 **Author's Note: I apologise for not having Hermione interact with the Marauders or Lily or Severus or Regulus or Dumbledore this chapter. I promise that the grey cat and the second year Slytherin hold some significance in the story. I am open to any of your suggestions and thank you so much for reading. I wish you the best.**

 **-Alli**


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